Who we are and what this covers
This policy explains how Zylos App Lock (Android package com.zylos.applock) handles information. The app is published by Zylos TechSolutions LLP (“we”, “us”) as part of the Zylos family of apps. Zylos App Lock locks the apps you choose behind a PIN, pattern or your fingerprint/face. It works entirely on your phone. An optional Zylos account backs up only your theme and language settings; your PIN, locked apps and history never leave the phone.
Android only. iOS does not let one app lock others; the iPhone build only shows an explanation and is not offered on the App Store.
Information the app uses on your device
The app needs the following information to work. It is read, processed and stored on your device. It reaches us only if the table or “Your Zylos account and cloud backup” below says so.
| Information | Why the app uses it | Where it is kept and for how long |
|---|---|---|
| Which apps you lock, focus schedules and settings (including the lock theme) | Deciding what to lock and when, and how the lock screen looks | App-private storage, until uninstall |
| Your PIN or pattern | Unlocking | Only a salted PBKDF2 hash, in app-private storage, until changed or uninstall |
| The app currently in front (from Usage access) | Noticing when a locked app opens | Read and compared on the phone; never stored or sent |
| Installed apps you can open from the home screen (names and icons) | The app picker and “Lock new apps” | Read on the phone; icons cached in the app's cache |
| History: unlocks, wrong attempts, auto-locked apps | The Activity tab | App-private storage, last 300 events, until you clear it |
| Intruder photos (only if you turn this on) | Showing who tried to open a locked app | Taken with the front camera after the number of wrong attempts you choose; app-private storage only, until you clear history or uninstall |
- Fingerprint and face unlock use Android's BiometricPrompt. The app never sees or stores biometric data; Android only reports success or failure.
- There is no PIN recovery by design: the PIN never leaves your phone. Reinstalling resets everything.
Your Zylos account and cloud backup (optional)
- Optional. Every feature works without an account. In the app's Settings → Account you can sign in with Google, create an account with email and password, or continue as a guest.
- What we receive when you sign in: a user ID (a random identifier from Firebase Authentication). With Google sign-in, also your name, email address and profile-photo link from your Google account. With an email account, your email address and the name you enter, if any; your password is handled by Firebase Authentication and never seen by us. A guest gets an anonymous user ID only, with no name or email. We record the sign-in method and when your profile was last updated.
- Cloud backup (only while you are signed in): appearance settings only: theme, colour mood, language and haptics. It is saved to your account so you can restore it on another phone. Uploads happen only when this data changed, at most every 10 minutes while the app is open and when it goes to the background; one backup per app, at most 32 KB.
- Never backed up: your PIN or pattern, biometric setup, locked apps, schedules, the activity history and intruder photos (they stay in the lock's private storage); the onboarding state and ad timing.
- Where it is stored. Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore, run by Google LLC as our service provider (Firebase project
zylos-techsolutions; Firestore region asia-south1 (Mumbai, India)). Security rules let only the signed-in owner read or write their profile and backups. - One Zylos account works across the Zylos apps; each app keeps its own separate backup.
- Deleting. Settings → Account → Delete account removes your sign-in, your profile and every Zylos backup at once. You can also ask for deletion on the web at apps.zylostechsolutions.com/delete-account. Signing out keeps your backup for the next sign-in; a guest account can't be recovered after signing out.
Push notifications
- The app uses Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google) to receive occasional announcements, such as new features or tips. To do this, Firebase gives the app a registration token (a random device identifier).
- Messages are sent from the Firebase console to topics only — everyone with any Zylos app or game, everyone with a Zylos utility app, or everyone with this app — never to a person picked by name, email or behaviour. No personal data is used to target them.
- A message may include a link to a screen in the app, which opens when you tap it. Messages that arrive while the app is open appear as a short in-app notice.
- On Android 13 and later, the app asks for notification permission once, never before your third launch, and not again if you say no. You can turn notifications off at any time in your device's settings.
Information that leaves your device
- Advertising. The Google Mobile Ads SDK contacts Google to request and show ads; through AdMob mediation, the ad networks named under “Advertising and consent” may also receive ad requests and show ads. See that section below.
- Your Zylos account and backup, only if you sign in — see above.
- Analytics, crash reports and Remote Config (Firebase, Google) — see “Analytics, crash reporting and app configuration”.
- Push notifications (Firebase Cloud Messaging) — see above.
- We run no servers of our own. Firebase and AdMob are Google services; Firebase processes data for us as a service provider. Apart from Google and the ad networks named under “Advertising and consent”, we don't share your information with anyone, and we never sell it.
What we never collect
We never sell your information. Without signing in, nothing you create in the app reaches us. In particular, the app never uploads:
- your PIN, pattern or biometric data
- which apps you have, use or lock
- intruder photos or your activity history
- your contacts or location; your name and email only if you sign in to a Zylos account
- anything you create or open in the app, as part of analytics or crash reports
Permissions and why they are needed
Android asks for your permission where the system requires it. You can change any permission at any time in your device settings; the app keeps working without the optional ones and explains what stops working.
| Permission | Purpose | Technical name |
|---|---|---|
| Usage access (special access, you grant it in Settings) | Seeing which app is in front so the lock screen appears over locked apps. Only the foreground app's name is read, on the phone. | android.permission.PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS |
| Display over other apps | Showing the lock screen on top of the app you're opening. | android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW |
| Foreground service | Keeps protection running while it's on, with a visible “App Lock is on” notification. | android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SPECIAL_USE |
| Notifications (Android 13+) | The ongoing notification that keeps protection running. Also occasional announcements from us (see “Push notifications”), asked for at most once and never before your third launch. | android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS |
| Run at startup | Restarting protection after the phone restarts. | android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED |
| Biometrics | Optional fingerprint/face unlock. | android.permission.USE_BIOMETRIC, USE_FINGERPRINT |
| Camera | Only for the optional intruder photo (front camera after wrong attempts). Not used unless you turn it on. | android.permission.CAMERA |
| Uninstall protection (optional) | Makes uninstalling the app require turning protection off with your PIN. Uses no device-admin policies (it cannot wipe, lock or watch the phone). | Device administrator (BIND_DEVICE_ADMIN receiver, no admin policies) |
Permissions present in every Zylos app
| Permission | Purpose | Technical name |
|---|---|---|
| Network access | Loads ads from Google AdMob. | android.permission.INTERNET |
| View network connections | Checks whether the phone is online before loading ads. | android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE |
| Advertising ID | Added by the Google Mobile Ads SDK. Lets the SDK read the Android advertising ID, subject to your consent and your device's ad settings. | com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID |
| Android ad services (Privacy Sandbox) | Added by the Google Mobile Ads SDK for Android's privacy-preserving ad APIs. Controlled by your device's ad privacy settings. | android.permission.ACCESS_ADSERVICES_AD_ID / _ATTRIBUTION / _TOPICS |
| Background work | Added by bundled Android libraries (e.g. WorkManager used by the ads SDK) to finish short background tasks. | android.permission.WAKE_LOCK, android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE |
| Vibration | Haptic feedback on taps. Can be turned off in the app's Settings. | android.permission.VIBRATE |
| Play Install Referrer | Added by a bundled Expo library. The app does not read or send the install referrer. | com.google.android.finsky.permission.BIND_GET_INSTALL_REFERRER_SERVICE |
| Receive push messages | Added by Firebase Cloud Messaging so the app can receive the occasional announcement sent to all of its users (see “Push notifications”). | com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE |
Not used: accessibility service, contacts, location, microphone, storage or media permissions, and the list of all installed apps (QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES is blocked; the app sees only apps with a home-screen icon). Battery-optimisation exemption is requested only by sending you to Android's own setting.
Advertising and consent (Google AdMob)
- The app is free and shows ads from Google AdMob, provided by Google LLC (Google Ireland Limited for users in the EEA and Switzerland).
- Consent first. Before ads load, the app uses Google's User Messaging Platform (UMP). Where the law requires it (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, and in US states with privacy laws), you see Google's consent form and can accept, reject or customise. Where Google tells the app that privacy options are required, Settings → Privacy → Ad privacy choices lets you change your choice at any time.
- What Google collects. When ads are requested or shown, the Google Mobile Ads SDK collects information such as your device's advertising identifier (on Android), IP address, app and device information, ad interactions and diagnostic data. Google uses it to show ads (personalised only if you consent), measure them, and prevent fraud and abuse. This happens under Google's own policies: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and the Google Privacy Policy.
- Other ad networks (AdMob mediation). To fill an ad request, AdMob may let these networks bid, and the winner shows the ad: Liftoff Monetize (Vungle), Meta Audience Network, Mintegral, Unity Ads. Their SDKs are part of the app. When a network requests or shows an ad, it receives information such as your device's advertising identifier, IP address, app and device information and ad interactions, and uses it under its own privacy policy (linked above) to show and measure ads and prevent fraud. They receive your choice from Google's consent form (IAB consent and US privacy signals) and show personalised ads only where you allowed it.
- Which ads. The ad networks, ad formats and how often ads appear can be adjusted remotely (Firebase Remote Config, below), within fixed limits built into the app. Your account, backup and analytics data are never given to ad networks.
- iPhone and iPad. This app is not offered on the App Store.
- Your controls. On Android you can reset or delete your advertising ID in Settings → Privacy → Ads (wording varies by phone). You can also manage Google ad personalisation at adssettings.google.com.
- Ads are limited to content suitable for a general audience (maximum ad content rating “PG”). A banner appears on the Apps, Schedules, Activity and Settings tabs, and a native ad (labelled "Ad") may appear inside a long Activity list (never first). A full-screen ad may appear occasionally when you open Schedules, and at most once right after setup (at most one per two actions, at least a minute apart, never in the first minute). There are no ads when the app starts. Ads never appear on, or behind, the lock screen or the unlock prompt, and never on PIN/pattern setup, permission screens, lock themes, uninstall protection, onboarding or the schedule editor.
Analytics, crash reporting and app configuration
- Firebase Analytics (Google) records how the app is used: which screens and features are used, settings chosen, counts and similar events (counts and setting values only; never app or package names), together with an app-instance ID, the advertising ID where available, device model, operating system and version, app version, language and an approximate country or region derived from the IP address. We use it to see which features help people and what to improve — not for advertising, and we don't share it.
- Firebase Crashlytics (Google) receives a report when the app crashes, and the app's own warnings and errors in release builds: the technical trace, device model, operating system, app version, free memory and storage, and a Crashlytics installation ID. Reports never include your content.
- Firebase Remote Config (Google): when the app starts, it downloads settings such as which ad formats are on and how often ads may appear. The request carries a Firebase installation ID and app and device information, but no personal information.
- Firebase keeps analytics data for the retention period set in our Firebase project (at most 14 months) and crash reports for 90 days. See Firebase privacy and security.
Children
The app is a general-audience utility and is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Ad requests are not tagged as child-directed. If you believe a child has created a Zylos account, contact us and we will delete it.
Keeping and deleting your information
- Everything the app stores on your device lives in its private storage. Uninstalling the app deletes it. You can also use Android's Settings → Apps → Zylos App Lock → Storage → Clear storage.
- “Clear history” in the Activity tab deletes the log and every intruder photo immediately.
- If uninstall protection is on, turn it off in the app (with your PIN) before uninstalling.
- Android cloud backup of the app's data is turned off, so no copy is made in your Google account by Android.
- Your Zylos account and backups are kept until you delete them (in the app, or at apps.zylostechsolutions.com/delete-account). Deleting removes them from Firebase right away; copies in Google's encrypted system backups expire within Google's standard backup cycle.
- Analytics data is kept for at most 14 months and crash reports for 90 days. Information collected by Google for ads is retained and deleted under Google's policies; see the links above.
Security
- All connections to Firebase and to Google's ad services use encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS). Google encrypts stored Firebase data at rest.
- Firestore security rules allow only the signed-in owner to read or write their profile and backups; nobody else, including other users, can read them.
- Your password, if you create one, is handled by Firebase Authentication; we never receive or store it.
- PIN/pattern stored only as a salted PBKDF2 hash; 5 free tries, then a cooldown that doubles up to 15 minutes.
- The app relocks itself after 10 seconds in the background.
- Honest limit: ADB, Safe mode or a factory reset can remove any app; uninstall protection is a deterrent, not a guarantee.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR, UK GDPR, India's DPDP Act or US state privacy laws), you may have rights to access, correct, export or delete your personal information, to object to or restrict its processing, and to withdraw consent. You can delete your account and backups yourself in the app or at the web link above, see your account details in Settings → Account, and change your ad consent in the app. For anything else, including a copy of your account data, contact us at the address below. You may also complain to your local data-protection authority.
Changes to this policy
If the app's data practices change, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change ships. Significant changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions or requests: support@zylostechsolutions.com. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write (the app's feedback link adds only the app version and Android/iOS version). We use it only to reply and delete it when the conversation is finished.
Help and frequently asked questions: Zylos App Lock support. Terms for using the app: terms of use.
Publisher: Zylos TechSolutions LLP.